The effectiveness of guessing the meanings of unknown words from context by non english 10th graders at nguyen trai gifted high school, hai duong

iii ABSTRACT Guessing the meanings of unknown words from context has been considered to be an effective skill in vocabulary acquisition and language skills development In order to study the effectiveness of the guesswork, this research investigated the guessing th ability of fifty-nine non-English 10 graders at Nguyen Trai Gifted High School, Hai Duong, through two tests A pre-test was given to students to identify their guessing ability before training After the training period, which lasted three weeks, the students were required to a post-test to find out their improvement in the guessing ability In addition, the author surveyed ten English teachers at Nguyen Trai Gifted High School to get their opinions on teaching and training the guessing strategy The results indicated that the ability to guess is useful for students to deal with reading texts containing new words Finally, the findings were discussed, and some suggestions and implications for applying the guessing skill in language teaching and learning were also proposed at the end of the thesis iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Chart 1: The pre-test results Chart 2: Teachers’ ways of dealing with new words Chart 3: The frequency of using the guessing skill Chart 4: The problems relating to using the guessing skill Chart 5: Teachers’ solutions to the problems Chart 6: The post-test results Table 1: The students’ ability to use the guessing techniques Table 2: The effectiveness of the guessing techniques v TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration …………………………………………………………….…………… … i Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………… ii Abstract …………………………………………………………………………… … iii List of abbreviations ………………………………………………………………….… iv List of charts, and tables ………………………………………………………… …… iv Table of contents …………………………………………………………… ………… .v PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale ………………………………………………………………………… … Aims of the study ………………………………………………………………………2 Research questions …… …………………………………………………………… Scope of the study ……………………………………………………………………2 Significance of the study ……………………………………………………………….2 Methods of the study ……… ………………………………………………………… Design of the study …………………………………………………………………… PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of context ……………… ……………………………………… …… 1.2 Guessing the meanings of unknown words from context as a technique of vocabulary teaching and learning …………….………………………………………………… … 1.3 Some previous studies on guessing the meanings of unknown words from contexts 1.4 Guessing strategies …………………………………………………………… … 10 1.5 Learner-strategy training …………………………… ……………………….…… 12 Chapter summary …………………………………………………………………… …16 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 The setting of the study and participants………………………………………… 17 2.1.1 The school …………………………………………………………………….… 17 2.1.2 Participants ……………………………………………………………………… 17 2.2 Three main stages of the action research ……………………………………… … 18 2.2.1 Pre – Improvement stage ……………………………………………….……… 18 Step 1: Identifying the problem ……………………………………………………….…18 vi 2.2.1.1 Giving a pre-test to evaluate students’ guessing ability ………….……….…… 18 2.2.1.2 Conducting an informal interview about the way the students guessed …….…18 Step 2: Finding causes of the problem ……………………………………………….…19 2.2.1.3 Consulting with colleagues …………………………………………………… 19 2.2.1.4 Reading professional books/ journals for ideas and suggestions ……………… 19 2.2.2 Trying – out stage ………………………………………………………… ……19 Step 3: Designing strategies for improvements ……………………………………… 19 Step 4: Trying out strategies and making notes on what happened in the class …………21 2.2.3 Post – Improvement stage …………………………………………………… …22 Step 5: Evaluating the try – out ………………………………………………………….22 2.2.3.1 Giving a post-test to evaluate the students’ improvement ……………… …… 22 2.2.3.2 Designing a questionnaire for students to identify the techniques that they have used to guess the meanings of unknown words ………………………………… …….22 2.3.3 Conducting an informal interview to identify the changes …………………… 23 2.3 Data analysis procedure ………………………………………………………….… 23 Chapter summary ……………………………………………………………………… 23 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 3.1 The results of the instruments before the training period …………………… …… 24 3.1.1 The results of the pre-test …………………………………………………………24 3.1.2 The results of the interview ………………………… ………………………… 25 3.1.3 The results of the questionnaire for the teachers …………………………….… 26 3.2 The results of the instruments after the training period …………………………… 29 3.2.1 The results of the post-test ……………………………………………………… 29 3.2.2 The results of interviews ……………………………………………………… 31 3.2.3 The results of the questionnaire for the students ………………………………….33 Chapter summary ……………………………………………………………………… 36 PART THREE: CONCLUSION Summary of the findings ……………………………………………………… …… 38 Conclusions …………………………………………………………………… …… 39 Limitations of the study …………………………………………………………… 39 Suggestions for further research ………………… ……………………………… 40 vii References ……………………………………………………………………………… 41 Appendix A: Text for the pre-test ……………………………………… ……………… I Appendix B: Questionnaire for teachers …………………………………………………II Appendix C: Training lesson …………………………………………………….…… III Appendix D: Training lesson ……………………………………………………… VIII Appendix E: Training lesson ……………………………………………………….… X Appendix F: Text for the post-test …………………………………………………… XI Appendix G: Questionnaire for students …………………… …………………… XII PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale Vocabulary acquisition has always received a great deal of attention in any language learning process In English language learning, vocabulary is extremely important as there are many words in the English language Reading texts are often potential sources for students to improve their vocabulary stocks While reading a text, students encounter new words and to comprehend the content of the text they have to know the meanings of these words The most common phenomenon that can be observed in non-major classes of English in Nguyen Trai Gifted High School is that when students see an unknown word, they will turn to bilingual dictionaries or ask their teacher for its meaning This results in students’ over-reliance on the bilingual dictionaries and their teachers while the reading speed may be slowed down More seriously, they may easily forget the meaning of the unknown word as they have no difficulty getting its meaning In fact, the comprehension of words involves a series of skills or activities, one of which is guessing the meaning of unknown words from context This reading strategy has a long history of research with the great majority of studies demonstrating its value It has often been suggested that learning vocabulary through context should be employed as the main approach to enhancing vocabulary knowledge A number of researchers such as Clarke and Nation (1980) and Gairns and Redman (1986) have claimed that to learn words in context and not in isolation is an effective vocabulary learning strategy Therefore, enabling students to derive word meanings with the help of contextual clues has become a teacher’s main task in order to increase students’ vocabulary Despite the fact that guessing the meanings of unknown words from context has proved to be an invaluable strategy in the learning of English vocabulary, it has not been formally and carefully introduced into English classes in high schools in Vietnam Some research on reading strategies has mentioned this strategy as a good one but little attempt has been made to instruct teachers in training students with this skill; and more importantly, little has been made to investigate the effectiveness of this strategy on the improvement of students’ proficiency of vocabulary and reading comprehension Therefore, I decided to carry out this study to explore whether this strategy was suitable for my students and if it was suitable, how I, as an English teacher, could to develop my students’ guessing ability 2 Aims of the study The study was carried out to: (1) Find out how effective guessing the meaning of unknown words from context was (2) Suggest some realistic and appropriate pedagogical implications to improve students’ ability in guessing the meaning of unknown words from contexts Research questions To achieve the aims and objectives of the thesis, the following research questions were proposed: (1) How effective is guessing the meanings of unknown words from context? (2) In what conditions are students more successful in guessing the meanings of unknown words from context? (3) What factors limit the effectiveness of guessing unknown words from context? Scope of the study The main purpose of the study is to find out how much students can with the guesswork and to help them improve the skill of guessing the meanings of unknown words from context The study only focuses on non-English 10th graders at Nguyen Trai Gifted High School, Hai Duong, so the results of the study are not applied for all students at the school Significance of the study Guessing the meanings of unknown words from context has been approved by many researchers as an effective strategy in improving learners’ vocabulary However, there has been little practical attempt in applying this strategy to classrooms due to the ignorance of both teachers as well as learners of its advantages For that reason, it is hoped that this study will provide both theoretical and practical foundation for the teachers and learners to make use of this strategy while teaching and learning the reading skill Furthermore, this is a good chance for the teachers and learners at Nguyen Trai Gifted High School to assess the effectiveness of a useful strategy – the strategy for guessing the meanings of unknown words from context Hopefully, this strategy will make students more confident when encountering new words in reading texts and motivate them to enrich their vocabulary knowledge Methods of the study With reference to its characteristics, this thesis can be categorized as an action research Both qualitative and quantitative methods would be employed to carry out the study The following methods were applied to collect data for this study: Two tests were used to evaluate the students’ guessing ability before and after the training period A survey questionnaire was specifically designed for the teachers of English to find out their opinions on the ways to teach students to guess Another questionnaire was given to the students to identify the techniques which they had used to guess In order to get further information about the ways the students had used to guess, informal interviews with students were also conducted before and after the training period Design of the study The study consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion Part 1: Introduction presents the rationale, the aims of the study, the research questions, the scope of the study, the significance of the study, the methodology and the design of the study Part 2: Development consists of Chapter one “Literature Review”, Chapter two “Methodology” and Chapter three “Findings and Discussion” Chapter one, “Literature Review”, aims at presenting the theoretical background for the thesis The most important notions related to guessing the meanings of unknown words from context are introduced Chapter two, namely “Methodology”, describes the study and the methodology underlying the research This chapter provides the background information of the instruments used to collect the data, the procedure of data collection and the procedure of data analysis Chapter three, “Findings and Discussions”, presents findings and discussions on the study and some suggestions for teaching and using the guessing skill Part 3: Conclusion restates the main points discussed in the study, some conclusions drawn from the findings, limitations of the study and suggestions for further study II APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS This survey questionnaire is designed for my Thesis “The effectiveness of guessing the meaning of unknown words from context th by non-English 10 graders at Nguyen Trai Gifted High School, Hai Duong.” It would be highly appreciated if you could spend your little time completing truthfully the questionnaire All the information provided by you is solely for the study purpose, and you can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of the data Thank you very much for your cooperation! Please circle the answer you choose or write the answer where necessary What you when your students ask you the meaning of a new word? A I give them its meaning in Vietnamese immediately B I explain the word in English so that they can guess its meaning in context C I encourage them to guess its meaning from context before I give them its meaning How often you ask your students to guess the meanings of unknown words from context? A Always D Rarely B Often E Never C Sometimes Have you ever met the following problems while asking your students to guess the word meanings from context? (You can choose more than one options) C A (Problem 1) The students try to guess but they cannot guess any words B (Problem 2) Most of the guesses are incorrect (Problem 3) The students not guess but look up the meanings in a dictionary because they think that it can save time D (Problem 4) Others: ………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… How you solve the problem? If you choose choice C, please answer the next question A (Solution 1) Just nothing, let the class be because the guessing skill is very difficult B (Solution 2) Shout at the students and punish them III C (Solution 3) Teach them how to guess How you teach your students to guess the meanings of unknown words? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX C: TRAINING LESSON Part 1: Theory Guide students how to guess the meanings of unknown words from context (Clarke & Nation’s strategy (1980)) + Step 1: Look at the unknown word and find out what part of speech it is Is it a noun, a verb, an adjective, or an adverb? Example 1: In an arboretum, trees are cultivated for scientific and educational purpose We can guess that “arboretum” is a noun because it is after the article “an” + Step 2: Look at the clause or sentence containing the unknown word If the unknown word is a noun, what does this noun do, or what is done to it? And what adjectives describe it? What verb is it near? If it is a verb, what nouns does it go with? Is it modified by an adverb? If it is an adjective, what noun does it go with? If it is an adverb, what verb is it modifying? Example 2: Typhoon Vera killed or injured 218 people and crippled the seaport city of Keelung (Clarke & Nation, 1980) The verb cripple may be unfamiliar but can be adequately inferred according to the formula: Typhoon Vera Verb Keelung Typhoon Vera did something to Keelung Although many verbs can be considered as ‘neutral’, many others can be assigned a positive or a negative value Thus, cripple can be given a negative value since it is likely that a typhoon will have some kind of negative (or undesired) influence upon a city The precise meaning of cripple cannot of course be reached by this type of guessing, but learners should be able to produce such ideas as ‘damage’ or ‘destroy’ (Clarke & Nation, 1980) IV + Step 3: Look at the relationship between the clause or sentence containing the unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs Sometimes this relationship will be signaled by conjunctions like “but, because, if, when”, or by adverbs like “however, as a result” The possible types of relationship include cause and effect, contrast, time, exemplification, explanation, condition, arrangement, classification, comparison and summary Example 3: Dad is an experienced driver,but Mum is a novice; she began taking lessons just last month In the first half of the sentence, there is a contrast unit We can see that the author is contrasting two ideas “an experienced driver” and “a novice” Therefore, “a novice” means the opposite of “an experienced driver”, namely “an inexperienced driver” + Step 4: Use the knowledge you have gained from steps to to guess the meaning of the word and check if your guess is correct (a) See that the part of speech of your guess is the same as the part of speech of the unknown word If it is not the same, then something is wrong with your guess (b) Break the unknown word into its prefix, root, and suffix, if possible If the meanings of the prefix and root correspond to your guess, it is good If not, look at your guess again, but not change anything if you feel reasonably certain about your guess (c) Replace the unknown word with your guess If the sentence makes sense, your guess is probably correct Part 2: Practice Exercise 1: Identify the part of speech of the underlined words Every atlas has its own legend The planet Mercury is visible to the naked eye but is not the easiest planet to spot Above the snow line, any mountain hollow is permanently occupied with snow The glass factories of Toledo, Ohio, boomed after Michael Owens invented a process that turned out bottles by the thousands Dr Rene Dubos, a French physician who came to the US in 1924, searched for substances that would check the growth of bacteria The root of the horseradish plant has a biting taste V The doublebass is shaped like a viola and has a deep, rich tone A public library is a resource the entire community can draw on A business concerns with two or more owners is referred to as a partnership 10 Table salt is finer than rock salt 11 Shirley Jackson’s sometimes chilling, sometimes hilarious stories were largely ignored by critics at the time they were published 12 As a child, the sharpshooter Annie Oakley hunted game with such success that, by selling it, she was able to pay off the mortgage on her family’s farm 13 All chimpanzees are extremely curious about their surroundings 14.Furniture design and manufacture were originally the work of individuals, but by the eighteenth century, many furniture makers had teams of craftsmen to help them carry out their plans 15 Samuel Latham Mitchell helped found Rutgers Medical College in New Jersey in 1826, and he produced several important works in chemistry and geology Key answers: N Adj 11 Adj Exercise 2: Read the sentences, choose the best answer, basing on the context (especially the conjunctions) A children’s art lesson produced a room full of unique pictures, they are not the same A beautiful B childish C different D valuable Camping paraphernalia as tents or sleeping bags can range from very simple to quite complex What does paraphernalia mean? A equipment VI B places C scenery D activities 3) My absent-minded teacher loses his keys, his book and his chalk almost every day! What does it mean to be absent-minded? 4) A be hateful B not pay attention C be intelligent D not like someone You can trust the salesmen at that store because they always conduct business in an aboveboard manner 5) A honestly, openly B sneaky, dishonest C horrible, repugnant D strange, unusual Petra has so many friends because she is a gregarious person A introverted, self-contained B shy, quiet C friendly, outgoing D rude, hostile 6) The lovely egret is in danger of extinction because clothing manufacturers use their long, beautiful tail feathers to make ladies' hats What is an egret? A a small child B a type of food C a sound a tiger makes D a type of bird 7) I can't believe it! Right in the middle of our conversation, Peter turned around abruptly and VII walked out of the room! What does abruptly probably mean? A formally B slowly, in no hurry C suddenly, without notice D quietly, in an unusual manner 8) After the harvest, we had an abundant amount of apples We made apple pie, apple sauce, and apple juice because we had so many apples! A a shortage B not enough C very red D plentiful 9) When Sara was sick, her voice was almost inaudible We couldn't hear what she was trying to say clearly What does inaudible probably mean? A very loud, easy to hear B very soft, hard to hear C very strange, uncommon D very shy, introverted 10) The hill was too arduous for us to climb We had to walk our bicycles up the hill What does arduous probably mean? A tall, sharp B fun, exciting C easy, not challenging D difficult, steep Key: C 2A B A C D C D B 10 D ………………………………………………………………………………………………… VIII APPENDIX D: TRAINING LESSON Exercise 1: Guess the meanings of nonsense words Text Guess the meaning of “zip” Everyone who visits Russia should first get a zip If you come by train, you must already have a zip You will not be allowed to enter at all without one Travellers without zips will be sent back where they came from Zips are given on the spot if you arrive by plane or by car However, you may have to wait a long time for one This can be avoided by getting a zip before you leave home Tell students that “zip” is a nonsense word, and ask them to try to guess its meaning from context, using the strategy by Clarke and Nation (1980) + Step 1: “zip” is a noun + Step 2: “zip” is a useful thing + Step 3: “zip” is related to travelling, “zip” may be a visa + Step 4: the word is suitable Text Guess the meaning of “zep” In Paris, it is wise to get yourself a zep as soon as possible It is very easy to get lost if you leave the main street You can buy zeps in the train station, but they are not complete Better zeps can be found in the bookstores These have more details, and they show all the named streets - Ask students to guess the meaning of “zep”, a nonsense word - “zep”: a map Exercise 2: Guess the meanings of the underlined words, basing on the context What does misogynist mean? A Mary realized that Mr Ashman was a misogynist soon after she started working as his assistant B It is difficult for a woman to work for a misogynist She is never sure of his criticism IX C Mary knew that no woman would ever get a top-level job in a company run by a misogynist What does soggy mean? A The window had been left open during the storm, and the papers on my desk were a soggy mess B We gathered up the soggy towels and bathing suits and them all in the sun to dry What does shrink mean? A I washed the T-shirt in cold water so it wouldn’t shrink B If you want to have enough spinach for dinner, you need to buy a lot It shrinks almost nothing when you cook it What does gloomily mean? A After hearing the war reports, Stefan walked gloomily home through the dark city B After the soccer team lost the game, the girls talked gloomily about their bad luck What does promptly mean? A Gerald always came home promptly on Tuesdays so that he could watch his favourite T.V show B The firefighters arrived promptly and were able to stop the fire from spreading to other houses misogynist: a person who doesn’t like woman soggy: very wet shrink: become smaller gloomily: sadly, with no hope promptly: without delay, on time ……………………………………………………………………………………………… X APPENDIX E: TRAINING LESSON Guess the meanings of the words you don’t know by completing the table below TEA Britain is still the biggest importer of tea, although much more coffee is drunk there than used to be Since 1660, when it was first introduced into England, tea has been widely drunk and it became more popular than ever as the British Emprire grew China and India produce the majority of the world’s tea, although other countries, such as Sri Lanka and Japan, are also important The young leaves are picked and taken to a factory, where they are spread out and allowed to dry They are then sent to a rolling machine, which breaks the leaf cells and releases oils which give the tea its flavour Then, the leaves are left to absorb oxygen and they turn a bright copper colour before being heated in an oven and turning black 10A lot of tea these days is prepared using tea bags These were invented by accident at 11 the start of the twentieth century Thomas Sullivan of New York decided to send samples 12to his customers in small cloth bags and the customers thought that they had to use the 13bags to make tea It worked so well that tea bags have been popular ever since Word introduced XI APPENDIX F: TEXT FOR THE POST-TEST Read the text, underline the words you don’t know and try to guess their meanings Write your guesses in the space below the text Most dolphins live in oceans and seas all over the world A few kinds of dolphins, called river dolphins, live in the fresh water of rivers There are at least 40 different species (kinds) of dolphins Most dolphins are black, brown, or gray The biggest dolphins are killer whales (also called orcas) A killer whale can grow to 9.8 meters long and weigh more than 5,400 kilograms The smallest is the tucuxi dolphin, which grows about 2.1 meters long and weighs about 50 kilograms Dolphins hunt and eat fish and squid Killer whales eat other sea mammals, sea turtles, and birds Dolphins often work together when they hunt A group of dolphins may swim in circles around a school of fish After a gestation period of 12 to 16 months, depending on the species, a single calf is born The mother nurse her newborn underwater for about months to years Some dolphin species, including the striped dolphin and the pantropical spotted dolphin, live for 50 years or more For other species, such as the bottlenose dolphin and common dolphin, 20 to 25 years is the maximum life span Like all mammals, dolphins have lungs for breathing A dolphin breathes through a blowhole on top of its head Dolphins make clicking sounds to help them “see” in deep, dark oceans or muddy rivers They sends out clicks and wait for the sound to rebound back to them In this way, dolphins can detect obstacles and unseen food ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………… XII APPENDIX G: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS Dear Participants, We’re undertaking a research project on the effectiveness of guessing the meanings of unknown words from context This questionnaire is aimed to understand what techniques you use to guess word meanings Please answer ALL the questions as truly as you can Your responses are not assessed or marked and they are used confidentially for the research purpose only Thank you for your cooperation Part 1: Put a tick (√) in the “True” column if the statement is TRUE to you and in the “False” column if it is NOT true to you I am able to determine parts of speech (e.g., verb, noun, ad etc.) when I am trying to detect the meanings of unknown w I take notice of the relationships between words to guess th of unknown words I look for discourse markers (e.g., however, for example, si etc.) on deriving the meanings of unknown words I am able to use synonyms or antonyms to understand new I pay attention to different types of punctuation so as to hel the meanings of unknown words I am able to guess the meaning of an unknown word basing explanation or the definition of that word I use my general knowledge to guess the meanings of un words I am able to guess the general meaning of unknown words I analyze the form of unknown words (especially affixes) i guess the meanings 10 After guessing the meaning of an unknown word, I check m by substituting the guess for the unknown word Part 2: Put a tick in the column you choose XIII How effective are these guessing techniques? Not effective Determining the parts of speech of the unknown words Realizing the relationship between words Realizing the relationship between clauses Using synonyms and antonyms Paying attention to different types of punctuation Basing on the explanations or definitions of the unknown words Using general knowledge to guess Analyzing the form of the unknown words (especially affixes) Part 3: Circle Yes/ No Has your ability to guess the meanings of new words improved after being trained to use the techniques? Yes / No Thank you for evaluating AnyBizSoft PDF Merger! To remove this page, please register your program! Go to Purchase Now>> AnyBizSoft PDF Merger  Merge multiple PDF files into one   Select page range of PDF to merge Select specific page(s) to merge Extract page(s) from different PDF files and merge into one  ... finding: ? ?The effectiveness of th guessing the meanings of unknown words by non- English 10 graders at Nguyen Trai Gifted High School, Hai Duong? ?? While working as a teacher at this school, the author... skill of guessing the meanings of unknown words from context The study only focuses on non- English 10th graders at Nguyen Trai Gifted High School, Hai Duong, so the results of the study are not... Student 2: I guessed the meanings of the unknown words basing on the meanings of the known words, the meanings of the sentences that contain the unknown words and the meaning of the whole text Student